FXI, a Norwegian startup is working on Cotton Candy, an Android based system with USB connectivity to boot your PC or tablet, and HDMI connectivity to connect to your TV. This is a revolutionary concept, as it is independent of the device you run it on. The processing units present inside Cotton Candy let it run standalone on a TV, and the USB stick allows it to boot up on any display device with USB connectivity.
Cotton Candy will sport a 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor with a 1 GB RAM. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. HD video playback has been made possible, thanks to the powerful Mali 400 Quad Core GPU packed inside it.

The vision for Cotton Candy is to allow users a single, secure point of access to all personal Cloud services and apps through their favorite operating system, while delivering a consistent experience on any screen. The device will serve as a companion to smartphones, tablets, notebook PC and Macs, as well add smart capabilities to existing displays, TVs, set top boxes and game consoles.

The idea of an OS on a pluggable stick is not new. However, what is definitely new, is a full-fledged processing unit with a dedicated GPU packed into a USB + HDMI stick. This stick leverages the screen real estate of any device with a USB port or an HDMI port, and takes portability to a new level. This reminds me of the Mac Mini, but we see how obviously this is better than an idea from 2005.

Chinmoy Kanjilal is a FOSS enthusiast and evangelist. He is passionate about Android. Security exploits turn him on and he loves to tinker with computer networks. He rants occasionally at Techarraz.com. You can connect with him on Twitter @ckandroid.